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At Disney‘s D23 Expo in Anaheim, California this weekend, I got a chance to chat with Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams. Though they didn’t show new footage from the film, the announcement of the Star Wars theme parks had everyone talking all weekend.

I tried to get more information about the Knights of Ren. As you may have heard, Abrams recently revealed that the character of Kylo Ren, played by Adam Driver, was part of the Knights of Ren, which is where his name comes from. I asked, of course. He said, “I can’t reveal any story stuff because Bob Iger (Disney CEO) said he would send someone to kill me. We’re really excited for you to see what that’s all about. It was something I thought should get out there. That’s where it comes from.” I asked if he has a specific plan for what information is going to be released. He said, “You know, it’s not so much that we have some kind of playbook as much as we’re just trying to make the movie as good as it can be. We release information as it feels appropriate to do so.

I asked if there were any major characters that haven’t been revealed yet. He said, “There are major details about major characters that haven’t been revealed yet.” He talked about the benefits of using practical effects. It’s a very weird experience with this movie, because simultaneously, at almost every turn, as difficult as it was, and as challenging as it was, it was exhilarating. It wasn’t like there was any one particular thing that was tricky or difficult – and look, there are a ton of CG effects in the movie, but doing practical explosions, for example, building practical sets and having those limitations, they were kind of wonderful limitations, because it required us to, in some cases, think harder and work harder, than with digital effects.”

I also asked him about the theme parks and if he was involved in any way. He said, “It was something that I’d been discussing with Bob Iger, and he was sort of telling me what he was planning, but these are all Disney plans. I had nothing to do with it, except as an excited future attendee.” Right there with you, sir!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens will hit theaters on December 18.

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Jenna Busch

Jenna Busch is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Legion of Leia and has hosted and written for sites like Nerdist, ComingSoon.net, Metro, Birth. Movies. Death., IGN, AOL, Huffington Post and more. She co-hosted Cocktails With Stan with the legendary Stan Lee and has appeared on Attack of the Show, Fresh Ink, Tabletop with Wil Wheaton, in the documentary She Makes Comics, on NPR and Al Jazeera America, and has covered film/TV/gaming/comics for years. She's currently a co-host on Most Craved. She's been published in the comics anthology Womanthology, is a chapter author for Star Wars Psychology: Dark Side of the Mind, Game of Thrones Psychology and Star Trek Psychology and more, and owns a terrifying amount of swords and 20-sided dice. There are also those My Little Pony trailer voice overs that give one nightmares.